Double action sanitary commode seat lifting and lowering device



June 23, 1970 ETAL J, M. cur-TON ,515,095

AND LOWIJRING DEVICE DOUBLE ACTION SANITARY COMMODE SEAT LIFTINC FiledAug. 22, 1967 Fig.

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I34 52 I26 A26 INVENTORS John M. C/hfon Rebecca' (J/if/on ATTORNEYUnited States Patent Int. Cl. A47]; 13/10 U.S. Cl. 4--251 ClaimsABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention is a double action lifting andlowering device for moving a commode or toilet seat between raised andlowered position in either direction. It includes a single foot pedalwhich, when depressed, moves the seat from either position. The footpedal is on one end of a crank arm lever, pivoted at its angle to a basethat is supported on the commode room floor, and made secure by beingsecured to a commode bowl securing bolt, and a link at the other end ofthe elever is pivotally attached to one side of the toilet seat. Inaddition, an action cushioning pneumatic cylinder, piston and pistonconnecting rod combination is pivoted on the crank arm pivot at one endand on the seat lifting link at the other end, permitting the seat to belifted, in either direction, to the dead-center position, and thencushions the fall of the seat from such dead-center position to thedesired raised or lowered position. Both the link and the pedal arm ofthe crank arm lever are readily adjustable in length, being telescopic,for ready adjustment to fit different sized commodes, and can be set upor detached from the seat in very few minutes.

OBJECTS OF INVENTION It is an object of this invention to provide asanitary toilet seat operator having only a single pedal, which acts toeither lift or lower the toilet seat, by foot action, without needingones hands at all, without manually touching the toilet seat.

A further object of this invention is to provide a toilet seat liftingand lowering device, or operator, that is easily operated by an aged orinfirm individual, and which includes an action cushioning device thatoperates to cushion the action as the seat approaches either the bowlrim in lowered position, or the toilet water box in the raised position.

A further object of this invention is to provide a double actionsanitary commode seat lifting and lowering device which is readilyadjustable in size to fit substantially any existing commode and whichmay be quickly adjusted to and fitted on or removed from the commode.

A further object of this invention is to provide a double action quietacting toilet or commode seat operator actuated in either direction byfoot pressure applied on a single foot pedal.

SUMMARY In brief, this invention is a double action, toilet seatoperator. It consists of a crank arm lever pivoted at its angle by apivot supported on the toilet room floor and secured to one of thetoilet bowl securing bolts. A long arm of the lever is telescopic, foradjustment in length, and has a foot pedal, with a cushion pad on it, atits free end. The other end of the lever is pivotally secured to aconnecting link which in turn is pivotally secured to an ear on abracket easily secured at either side of a toilet or commode seat. Thelink is telescopically adjustable in length. Pivotally secured on thesame floor supported pivot and pivotally secured adjustably along theconnect- Patented June 23, 1970 ing link is a pneumatic cylinder, pistonand piston connecting rod combination having a bleed valve for adjustingits operation. The piston is a cupped resilient piston, allowing the airto readily pass thereby when the foot is pressing the operator to liftthe seat either from the bowl rim or from leaning position against thetoilet water box to dead-center position, and then resisting the airpassing in the opposite direction, thus cushioning the action as theseat moves under gravity from dead-center position to the bowl rimlowered position or to the water box leaned against raised position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING With the above and related objects in view,this invention consists in the details of construction and combinationof parts, as will be more fully understood from the followingdescription, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the seat lifting and lowering device ofthis invention.

FIGS. 2, 3, and 4 are sectional views on lines 22, 33, and 4-4 of FIG.1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION There is shown at 10 a toilet or commode ofconventional construction having the water box 12, a commode bowl 14secured by bolts and nuts 16 through its base 18 which may be ofiset asat 20 in FIG. 3, to the commode room floor 22, all of conventionalconstruction, the commode seat 24 being pivotally mounted on pivot bolts26 in the customary manner for movement in either overdead-centerdirection between the raised position shown in FIG. 1 leaning againstthe commode water box 12 and a lowered, horizontal position resting onthe rim of the commode bowl 14.

There is shown at 30 the commode seat positioning device of thisinvention, sanitary because the hand need not touch the commode seat 24,and convenient to use, particularly for an aged or infirm person,because it is operated from either raised or lowered position by usingones foot to depress a single foot pedal 32 on an end of a crank armlever 34 having a single, decidedly angular bend upwardly in a verticalplane. The foot pedal 32 is provided with a ribbed resilent pad 36, ofrubber or other suitable non-slip material. The pedal 32 is mounted on arod 38 telescopically and adjustably secured within a sleeve 40 by a setscrew 42, which sleeve 40 is permanently secured in any convenientmanner to a leg 44 of the crank arm lever 34. This crank arm lever 34 isprovided with a pivoting aperture 46 at the vertex of its angular bendfor pivotally mounting it on a pivot bolt and nut 48 extending andsecured through the opposite walls 50 of an upstanding channel member 52mounted on a base 54 having a non-slip resilient pad 56 for resting onthe commode room floor 22.

The pivot base 54 is secured against slipping on the floor 22 by havingan angled slotted arm 58 extending therefrom to cooperate with thecommode bowl securing bolt 16. If the bowl base 18 has but a single stepas in FIG. 1, the elongated slot 60 adjustably extends about the end ofthe bowl securing bolt 16 to which it may be secured by a second nutsimilar to nut 28 on the bolt 16. If the bowl base 18 is offset as at20, a flanged sleeve nut 62 is used through slot 60 to secure the pivotbase arm 58 to the commode bowl bolt 16, as in FIG. 3.

The other relatively shorter leg 64 of crank arm lever 34 is pivotallysecured to one end of a link 66 whose other end 68 is oifset at a rightangle so as to pivotally extend into an ear 70 forming part of a bracket72 which may be secured on either side of the commode in any convenientmanner, as by an adhesive, countersunk screws, or the like, to thebottom, edge or top side of the commode bowl seat 24.

To provide for proper adjustment with commodes of different sizes, thelink 66 is adjustable in length, having a pivoting clevis 74 and pivot76 pivotally connected to lever leg 64 at one end. A threaded stem 78 ofclevis 74 is threaded into one end of a telescopic sleeve 80-.Adjustably extending from and secured within the other end of thistelescopic sleeve 80 by a set screw 82 is an L- shaped rod 84, the shortL leg thereof being the offset pivot 68 already referred to as pivotallyextending into the pivot ear 70 of bracket 68.

As thus far set forth, this device is completely pera tive for thepurpose intended, except that it may be noisy. With the commode bowlseat 24 in raised position leaning against the water box 12 as shown,foot pressure on pedal 32 will pivot the seat 24 to over-dead-centerposition, allowing it to fall by gravity to the lowered position suchfall being resisted, if desired, by foot pressure on the foot pedal 32.With the seat 24 in lowered position, foot pressure on pedal end 32 willraise the seat from the commode supported position to over-dead-centerto fall by gravity to against the water box 12, where again, footpressure may resist too speedy a fall.

However, an aged or infirm individual may find it too difiicult toprovide the foot pressure to eliminate noise at the end of eithermovement, and a cushioning cylinder, piston and piston rod combination86 is adjustably pivotally secured at one end to the link 66 and pivotedthereto by a knuckle joint at 90. An ear 92 in the piston connecting rod94 at its other end extends about the pivot bolt 48 on which the crankarm lever 34 is pivoted. The piston rod 94 extends into cylinder 102through a bushing 96 threadedly secured inside a nut 98 over a clampring 100 about the end of the wall of the cylinder 102. The inside endof piston connecting rod 94 is threaded at 104 on which is threaded anut 106 against which is supported a washer 108 forming a base for aresilient cupped piston 110, a second nut 112 threaded on the end ofconnecting rod 94 being secured thereagainst by a lock washer 114.

The knuckle joint 90 consists of a rod 116 internally threaded at oneend over a threaded stem 118 extending through and secured to the endwall 120 by internal and external nuts 122. Secured on the link rod 84by a set screw 124 is a ring 126 from which extends a stern 128 having aball end 130 which is pivotally held in a socket 132 in the end of rod116 by a resilient clamp ring 134. A bleed valve for the cylinder 102 isprovided by a threaded aperture through the cylinder 102 in which isWith the seat 24 in raised position as shown, foot pressure on footpedal 32 through link 84 moves the seat 24 away from water box 12,simultaneously pulling the cylinder 102 by means of its knuckle joint 90and cupped piston 110 moves downwardly in cylinder 102 as viewed in FIG.2, the cupped piston 110 permitting air to escape past it from below,while some slight additional air may enter slot 138 of bleeder valve136. After the seat 24 passes dead-center position through momentumprovided by the initiating push, it then falls by gravity toward thelowered position on the rim of the toilet bowl 14. Once past dead-centerposition, the cupped piston reverses its direction of movement to thenmove up toward cylinder wall 120 at the top end of cylinder 102,compressing air between it and top cylinder wall 120. The slowness withwhich such compressing air may escape through the bleeder valve 136cushions the lowering of the toilet seat to the commode bowl 14, andwhen it does reach fully lowered position, it does so in comparativequiet. When the seat is to be lifted from the lower position on the rimof the toilet bowl 14, the foot pedal 32 is again depressed, lifting theseat 24 by means of the link 66 and pulling the top end of the cylindereasily upward while air escapes from below the cupped piston to aboveit, with some air entering past bleeder valve 136. When dead-centerposition is reached and passed through momentum, the movement of thecupped piston 112 is reversed to again move upwardly toward cylinder topwall 102, compressing air thereabove, creating a partial vacuumtherebelow, and the controlled escape of air through bleeder valve 136cushions the movement of the toilet seat 24 from dead-center position tothe position shown leaning against the water box 12. Rod 84 bendsslightly under pressure, when foot pedal 32 is pressed. This actionbrings seat 24 to dead-center. When foot pedal 32 is released thisreleases the pressure on rod 84 and it straightens, tipping seat 24 backagainst water tank 12, being cushioned by the action of cylinder 102.

In the drawings, like numbers refer to like parts, and for the purposesof explication, marshalled below are the numbered parts of the improveddouble action sanitary commode seat lifting and lowering device:

16 12 14 16 1s 20 22 24 26 2s 30 32 34 36 as 40 42 44 46 4s 50 s2 s4 565s 60 62 64 66- 68 70 72 74 76 78 so s2 s4 commode or toilet water boxcommode bowl bowl securing bolts on 14 base of 14 offset on base 18commode room floor toilet seat pivot bolts for 24 nut on bowl bolts 16seat positioning device foot pedal crank arm lever resilient pad on 32telescoping rod of 34 telescopic sleeve set screw securing rod 38 insleeve 40 rod leg of 34 pivoting aperture of 34 pivot bolt and nut for46 opposite walls of 52 upstanding channel base for '52 pad on base 52slotted angled arm of 54 elongated slot in 58 flanged sleeve nut otherleg of 34 link from 34 to 24 pivoting offset end of 84 ear on bracket 72bracket on seat 24 pivoting clevis on link 66 pivot for 66 on 64threaded stem on 74 telescopic sleeve of 66 set screw L-shaped rod oflink 66 cushioning piston, piston ring and cylinder combination knucklejoint ear in end of 94 piston connecting rod bushing nut on 102 clampring under 98 cylinder threaded end of 94 inside 102 nut of 104 washeragainst 106 resilient cupped piston Although this invention has beendescribed in considerable detail, such description is intended as beingillustrative rather than limiting, since the invention may be variouslyembodied, and the scope of the invention is to be determined as claimed.

Having thus set forth and disclosed the nature of this invention, whatis claimed is:

1. A sanitary commode seat lifting and lowering device comprising adouble action single foot pedal usable in alternately lifting andlowering a commode seat, said device comprising a crank arm lever havinga single, decidedly angular bend upwardly in a vertical plane, means forpivotally supporting said crank arm lever at the vertex of said annularbend so that said crank lever arm may pivot in a vertical plane on thefloor of the commode room, said crank arm lever comprising a long footpedal lever leg and a relatively shorter commode seat pivoting leg, alink pivoted to said shorter leg at one end and pivotally securable atits other end to the commode seat whereby foot pressure on said footpedal lifts the commode seat to over dead center in either direction tothen permit the commode seat to continue to either raised or loweredposition.

2. The device of claim 1, and means for cushioning the movement of thecommode seat in falling beyond dead center position in either direction.

3. The device of claim 2, said cushioning means comprising a pneumaticcylinder, a piston therein, and a piston rod on which said piston ismounted for movement within said cylinder, one end of said piston rodand cylinder being pivoted on said crank arm lever pivotal supportingmeans, the other end of said rod and cylinder being adjustably securedto said link intermediate the ends of said link.

4. The device of claim 3, and an air valve extending through a wall ofsaid cylinder for controlling the speed of falling movement of saidcommode seat.

5. The device of claim 4, said air valve being an adjustable air bleedervalve comprising a threaded aperture in a wall of said cylinder and avalve screw adjustably threaded therein, said valve screw having atapered slot extending longitudinally of its threaded surface.

6. The device of claim 1, said crank arm lever pivotally supportingmeans comprising an upstanding channel member, a pivot secured throughopposite sides of said channel member, said pivot extending through apivot aperture in said crank arm lever at the vertex of said angularbend.

7. The device of claim 6, and non-slip means resiliently supporting saidchannel member on the commode room floor.

8-. The device of claim 6, and an apertured arm extending from saidupstanding channel member for reinforcing cooperation with a commodesecuring member.

9. The device of claim 1, said long foot pedal lever leg of said crankarm lever and said link each comprising a telescopable sleeve and rodadjustably secured therein, resilient, non-slip means on said foot pedalend of said crank arm lever and on the bottom of said upstanding channelmeans, and means for detachably pivoting said link other end the commodeseat comprising a bracket securable to a convenient surface of thecommode seat, and a pivot ear on said bracket, the end of said linkbeing offset to pivot in said pivot ear.

10. The device of claim 5, said crank arm lever pivotally supportingmeans comprising an upstanding channel member, a pivot secured throughopposite sides of said channel member, said pivot extending through apivot aperture in said crank arm lever at the vertex of said angularbend, and an apertured arm extending from said upstanding channel memberfor reinforcing cooperation with a commode securing member, said longfoot actuatable leg of said crank arm lever and said link eachcomprising a telescopable sleeve and rod adjustably secured therein,resilient, non-slip means on said food pedal and on the bottom of saidupstanding channel means, and means for detachably pivoting said linkend to the commode seat comprising a bracket securable to a convenientsurface of the commode seat, and a pivot ear on said bracket, the end ofsaid link being offset to pivot in said pivot ear.

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669,243 12/ 1938 Germany 324,667 2/1935 Italy.

LAVERNE D. GEIGER, Primary Examiner D. MASSENBERG, Assistant Examiner

